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Gunpowder & Explosives History Group
Newsletter 12, Spring 2006
SPRING MEETING
Joint Meeting of the
Royal Society of Chemistry Historical Group
and the
Gunpowder and Explosives History Group
Sulfur and its role in Gunpowder
The Council Chamber, Royal Society of Chemistry, Burlington House,
Piccadilly, London, W1J 0BA
Thursday 8 June 2006
14.00
Gerry Moss (Queen Mary, University of London)
Introduction to the preparation and role of sulfur in gunpowder
14.30
Paul Kelly (University of Loughborough)
The history of sulfur allotropes - from identification through to synthesis
15.10
Tea
15.40
Brenda Buchanan (Chairman of the Gunpowder and Explosives History Group)
Sulphur, the enigmatic ingredient of gunpowder
16.20
Robert Smith (formerly the Royal Armouries)
Sulphur - an experimental approach. Recent work and future directions
17.00
Discussion
17.30
Meeting ends.
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OARE GUNPOWDER WORKS, FAVERSHAM, KENT
Wayne Cocroft
In October 2005 the group made a return visit to Faversham. Since our last visit in 1997 (GMSG
22 February 1998, 2-6) the Fleur de Lis Centre, the Faversham Society’s headquarters and
museum, have been substantially refurbished with the aid of grant from the Heritage Lottery
Fund. The museum tells the story of Faversham and includes a new section on the local
explosives industry that was once one of the area’s main employer. A return visit was also made
to the Chart mills, which were saved by the Faversham Society in the late 1960s (Percival, A
1969 ‘The Faversham gunpowder industry (Part 1)’ Industrial Archaeology 5 (1) 1-42.
Late 19th century cooper’s shop adapted for use as a visitor centre (W D Cocroft)
Site of glazing house, late 19th century and refurbished in 1926 (W D Cocroft)
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The most substantial change in recent years has been the development of the Oare Gunpowder
Works as a heritage attraction, again mainly funded by a Heritage Lottery Fund (G&EHG
Newsletter 2005 11, 13-4). The Oare works is one of the best-preserved gunpowder works in
England and its layout survives almost intact, through its tracks, leats, buildings and ruins. A
visitor centre has been created in the former cooper’s shop with an adjacent car park. The most
impressive part of the work is the partial reconstruction of the 1926 incorporating mills, which
has included the installation of a steel suspended edge-runner mill recovered from the 1930s ICI
factory at Ardeer, Ayrshire. To house the edge-runners mill brick mill and engine bay have been
reconstructed.
The project also included the dredging of the works’ internal canal network and the laying of
signed trails. There has also been some consolidation of the ruins around the site. Another
significant aspect of the site is its importance as a wildlife refuge and there is continuing
programme of woodland management supervised by the Groundwork Medway Swale.
The part restored 1926 gunpowder incorporating mill with mill bay and motor room (W D
Cocroft)
The site is open to the public in day light hours, the visitors’ centre is open at weekends and bank
holidays, but visitors are advised to check its opening hours on its web site
www.gunpowderworks.co.uk
For further information see
Cocroft, W D 1994 Oare Gunpowder Works, Faversham Paper 39, Faversham: Faversham
Society
Patterson, E M 1995 Gunpowder manufacture at Faversham Oare and Marsh factories,
Faversham Paper 42, Faversham: Faversham Society
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LEIGH GUNPOWDER WORKS, KENT
Chris Rowley
From the middle of the Napoleonic Wars until 1934 the Leigh Powder Mill’s site was been used
for the production of gunpowder. Now, in 2006, all that remains of the early factory workings
are 6-8 earth mounds, which are the remains of protected storage buildings; the overgrown
foundations of over twenty buildings; the top millstream with ten sluices going down to
extensive waterways on the tail stream level and a canal which enabled barges to come up from
the Medway. There are also several large millstones and other pieces of machinery, all of which
are in an overgrown woodland site.
The site represents an industrial archaeological feature that is very unusual in southern England
and is currently being assessed by English Heritage.
The Start of the Firm and Reasons for Siting the Mill
The first record of the powder mill was in 1811 when two fathers and sons, the Burtons and the
Childrens, decided to start a company. It was known initially as the Ramhurst Powder Mills,
although it later became The Tunbridge (sic) Gunpowder Works. This part of the country had
plenty of wood for the charcoal needed in the processes. There was already a millstream, which
had powered the corn mill at Ramhurst – at the bottom of Weir Lane – until it was put out of use
in 1812. It was easy to construct access downstream to the Medway and thence to the major
naval base at Chatham. Transporting heavy goods by road in this era was difficult, particularly in
winter. Additionally, the Children family also owned this portion of land and were local
bankers. The initial investment in the company was the large sum of £30,000. For details of the
1811 Gunpowder Licence, a map and description of the site of the Mills and the 1813 Rateable
Value of the Mills – see “Kentish Sources III” by Elizabeth Melling p127-135.
Leigh powder mills (centre left), 1st edition 1-inch Ordnance Survey map,
Maidstone Sheet 80
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Sir Humphrey Davy
The famous scientist and later President of the Royal Society, Sir Humphrey Davy, was keen to
try a new formula for gunpowder and initially was a partner in the scheme, although he did not
invest any money. However, by 1812 he had become less enthusiastic (his wife was very antitrade) and he withdrew.
For further information about Davy’s involvement, see pamphlet “Sir Humphrey Davy:
Tonbridge Associations” by G. P. Hoole July 1978 and an article by J. Z. Fullmer, a copy of
which is held in the Tonbridge Reference Library in a special folder headed Powder Mills,
Leigh.
Early Years
By 1813, two out of the three initially planned mills, a house for the manager and some cottages
for the workers had been constructed. A canal of about 500 yards had been constructed,
complete with a stone-faced lock where it joined the Medway. The tailwater had branches
around the mill site to enable goods to be moved around between the various processes.
Unfortunately, the Children family bank was beginning to have financial difficulties (Biddle, 5455) and the Children sold out to the Burtons. William Ford Burton – the son – was left in sole
control in 1824 after the retirement of his father.
The Process
Gunpowder is a mixture of charcoal (carbon 12%-15%), Saltpetre (potassium nitrate 75%), and
brimstone (sulphur 10% - 12%). Willow and alder were the main source of the charcoal, which
is ground down into a powder and made into a “wetten dough” with the other ingredients. The
mixture then has to be made into uniform sized grains – with sieves – a process called “corning”.
Finally, it is glazed, dusted and dried.
Wheel pit and foundations of a water mill (W D Cocroft)
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The Main Years
Production seems to have run successfully throughout the main part of the 19th century with
canal barges belonging to the Medway Navigation Company carrying the gunpowder down to
the firm’s magazine at Erith at fifteen shillings a ton – more than twice the rate for other goods.
However, there was nearly a problem. In 1829 the Penshurst Canal Company was formed with
the aim of making Penshurst the top navigable end of the Medway rather than Tonbridge. The
Straight Mile – a canal above Tonbridge - was started which would have taken water out of the
Medway above the start of the millstream. It was clearly something which was thought to be
liable to affect the power for the Powder Mills and William Burton objected. However, the canal
project was abandoned in 1832. The Leigh History Society archive has a 1837 map with a key to
the various parts of the Estate; and a 36 page booklet ‘A History of the Medway Navigation
Company’ compiled by John Hilton – gives more details of these events and a general
background to trade on the Medway including gunpowder.
Local newspapers reported various incidents. 16 April 1835, the Maidstone Journal told of an
explosion in the corning house in which two people were killed; and another accident happened
ten years later, although no one was killed.
At the time of the 1851 census, Charles Sealy, aged 45, was the resident manager employing
sixteen men, five boys and four women, all of whom were residents of the Powder Mill cottages.
In 1840 there had been nine cottages but by 1851 the number had increased to fifteen; and in
1855 new mills – still water powered – were installed.
In 1859, William Burton having died, the works were put up for sale. The property consisted of
the charcoal processing area, four mills with eight pairs of stones, the press house, the corning
house and the glazing and dusting houses, together with 50 acres of land, the twelve-roomed
managers house, and fifteen cottages built for Powder Mills workmen (who paid rent). The
annual gunpowder output was said to be between 7,000 and 14,000 barrels.
The firm was bought by Charles and Thomas Curtis for £10,000 and, as the annual profit was
said to be £2,000 - £3,000, it seems like a good buy for Curtis – a firm which continued to grow
over the next fifty years.
In 1860, an Act of Parliament was passed governing the making of gunpowder. In 1864 the
Tonbridge Telegraph told of an accident in the Dusting House. The works manager, George
Grey, was reported as saying it was “unheard of . . .” It was clearly serious because four workers
were buried in Leigh churchyard. By now forty people were employed including a number of
coopers to make the barrels to hold the gunpowder of which 60lbs were mixed at a time and
there was stabling and a farrier’s shop.
The Medway Navigation Company was increasingly becoming unreliable, although it did not go
out of business until 1911. In 1874, the inhabitants of Maidstone complained that they were
worried about the safety of the gunpowder barges and transport on the Medway ceased.
The works was owned the firm of Curtis & Harvey, it took its moral duties to its staff seriously,
as the descendant of one of the workmen there, James Swain, has a bible with the inscription ‘The Society for Promotion of Christian Knowledge. Curtis & Harvey. Christmas 1876’.
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In 1876, Continuation Certificate No. 21 was issued to the company and, a little later, steam
power was introduced to supplement waterpower. Explosions continued to occur; Lawrence
Biddle noted that there were five in the years 1878 – 1885. In 1885, new equipment was
installed to produce prismatic powder, and by 1897 the manufacture of the old black gunpowder
had ceased.
By the end of the nineteenth century there were six or seven pairs of mill-houses and over a mile
of narrow gauge railway – with small trucks pushed by hand – around the site, as well as the
waterways.
Footbridge and watch house (W D Cocroft)
In 1898, Curtis & Harvey became a public company, owning many powder mills all over the
country.
The First World War
In the period leading up to the First World War, the firm was producing smokeless sporting
powder, primarily for sporting guns, but the start of the war meant a big expansion to produce
explosives for munitions. Young boys (including Charlie Ingram and Cecil Smith from Leigh),
and more unusually, women, were taken on.
Tonbridge and other villages and a tarmac cycle path ran to the Powder Mills from both
Ramhurst and Tonbridge. The original white workmen’s cottages were demolished and the
current houses erected by Curtis & Harvey. In 1917 there was an explosion when a building was
struck by lightning. The noise woke up sleepers in Leigh and debris was said to have fallen as
far as The Plough pub. Another report from a 1965 company newsletter says that people could
read a newspaper in Tonbridge High Street in the glare.
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Although one account seems to indicate some people were killed, a villager, Eric Batchelor
remembers his family memories saying the explosion occurred on a Sunday night when the only
person there was the night watchman, Eric’s grandfather, Alfred Batchelor. He was blown off
his feet but not badly hurt and, it was said, surprisingly, there were no other injuries.
After the First World War
At the end of the War production was – not unnaturally – dramatically cut back and the firm
changed ownership, becoming Nobel and eventually forming part of Imperial Chemical
Industries whose best known product from this factory was Black Diamond Gunpowder.
Coincidentally, one of the founders of ICI, Robert Mond, lived at Combe Bank six or seven
miles away in Sundridge from 1906-1924 and used his large gardens to try out explosives,
causing some concern to the locals.
Under Curtis & Harvey and its successors, the Powder Mills had an active social scene for both
adults and children. In the 1920s and early 1930s there was a club with billiards – not snooker in
those days – darts, table tennis and cards. There was the use of a tennis court and cricket pitch at
Meopham Bank; shooting at targets was done in the field opposite the Ramhurst Manor entrance,
and there was a soccer team with its pitch on the water meadow below what is now the Hunter
Seal Close. There is a formal picture of the shooting club, with 20 men in dark suits and tie and
two trophy shields and two cups. There is also a 1923 article and photo of the soccer team which
had won the Division II Charity Shield. The soccer team included Noel Jempson who not only
worked at the Powder Mills but became landlord of The Plough for many years until the 1960s
and has left some memoirs. There were also regular Christmas parties for children.
There was another large explosion in 1927 and several people were killed including two from
well-known local families with a long association with the Powder Mills – the Batchelors and the
Scotts.
By 1930 the site was still well maintained. However, in September 1934 ICI moved all its
explosive operations to Scotland where it was thought there was less risk of wartime attack and
where hydroelectric power was a new cheap source of energy. The land and the houses were
sold off and a good number of staff left unemployed, although ICI was acknowledged to have
tried to look after its staff – some of whom, including John Evelyn, who had been the Manager
for 14 years, being re-employed in Scotland. There is one eyewitness report describing how
virtually everything was removed from the site or raised to the ground by ICI.
After Gunpowder
After the works had been left derelict for some years, the site was bought in 1942 by a firm who
used it for a variety of light engineering projects, including some war work.
In 1949, a small pharmaceutical company, Menley & James, bought the site initially only
employing five people. In 1952, Smith Kleine & French owned the whole site and by 1956 it
was employing around thirty people. Smith Kline & French became Smith Kline Beecham and
finally at the turn of the 21st century GSK (Glaxo SmithKline) which has expanded in size with
the integration of the research side of Wellcome from Dartford. The site, now employs around
300 people and concentrates on pharmaceutical research rather than the production of chemicals.
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In 1996, the developers, D H Ward, applied for permission for a change of use on the Hunter
Seal site from industrial to an all housing scheme. The proposal was strongly supported by local
residents and, although the Sevenoaks District Council would have preferred a mixed light
industrial/residential scheme, the all-housing proposal was eventually agreed and seventeen
houses built.
Ownership of the Site
Currently half the site on the western side, the former powder works, is owned by GSK and the
other half is owned by a residents’ association, this section lies in Tonbridge & Malling Borough
Council area. No parts of the site are available for viewing by the general public.
Summary
For around 125 years the Parish of Leigh had a gunpowder-producing company. Whilst it
employed a number of people from Leigh, it was always a separate community, with usually
around a hundred people living in the houses largely built for the powder mill workers. The site
continues to be the parish’s largest employer although the vast majority of the works of the site
come from outside the parish. It is hoped that current plans formally to do a full survey of the
site and to consider restoration/preservation will be fruitful.
Compiled from notes by D P Hansell and from Lawrence Biddle’s book Leigh in Kent, with
additional material from Eric Batchelor, Muriel Brooker and Roy Brooker and other sources
quoted in the article. See also D P Hansell GMSG 5 February 1989, 7.
KRUDTVÆRKSMUSEUM IN FREDERIKSVÆRK, DENMARK
Kristian Jensen
When I found out, through the Hagley Museum Delaware USA website, that there was a powder
mill museum in England, I was more than eager to have a look at it. And so in December last
year, at the invitation of Ian MacFarlane and Les Tucker, I got the chance to see the impressive
Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey.
At the same time I was told that you had established a Friends Association, and after returning
home I was even accepted as a corresponding member of this honourable institution! By now I
know quite a bit about Waltham Abbey, but The Friends’ knowledge of our museum must be
very limited. In Dangerous Energy, our museum is not described and only gets a mention
(almost in parentheses), and so I promised Norman Paul to try and write a few words about ‘us’.
His Majesty King Frederik V founded our town by signing a contract with Messrs Classen and
Fabricius at Fredensborg Castle on 25th August 1756.
In the contract it is stated how much gunpowder the two men had to deliver to the Army and how
much sulphur and saltpetre per year they should have from the Crown. The king gave his
permission to name the place Frederiksværk ie Frederik’s Works.
Before that date there was almost nothing in the area except a canal from Lake Arresö down to
Roskilde Fjord transporting 50 million cubic metres of water per year; but within 2 years the
production of gunpowder and bronze cannons had begun.
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The production of black gunpowder continued up to 1965, and of cordite but only from 1892,
while the casting of bronze cannons stopped in the 1860s. In 1965 the Powder Mills, Härens
Krudtvärk, was closed down, as it was no longer profitable. Typically such a factory would have
been thrown on the scrap heap and all houses demolished, but staff from the ‘Museum of Arms &
Uniforms’ in Copenhagen saw the chance of establishing a museum with some of the oldest
buildings and the best machinery, and these were placed at their disposal. We are more than
grateful to them! They opened the museum in the summer of 1968 and it is still open to the
public every summer from June to mid-September and one week in October (the schools’
Potato-Holiday).
In 1996 we had some of the exhibitions renewed and of course there is still maintenance work to
be done on such old houses and machinery. Two years ago the local authorities took over and
now run the museum, which includes 4 full-time employees and an equal number of part-timers.
During the season we have a number of hourly-paid guides, of whom I am one.
What have we now got inside the 14 registered buildings? I think we have the necessary
machinery - if we were clever enough - to start production of black gunpowder tomorrow, if only
we could get the necessary permission from the police and could buy the ingredients. In the first
house with machinery in it we have a pulveriser and visitors can hear the rumbling of the 1.5 cm
bronze balls inside the rotating drum driven by a water turbine.
Pulverising mill in a ball drum
In the next house there are the mixing drums for both binary and ternary mixing, but here the
rumbling is softer as the balls (dimension 3.5 cm) are made of Pokkenholt (hardwood) and the
inside of the ternary drum is clad with leather. In the graining house we have our real wonder: A
Lefebvre’s Graining Mill dating from 1875. We believe that this mill is the only one of its kind
in existence – not just in Denmark, producing grain gunpowder up to 1965!
Unfortunately we have no hydraulic press to compress the powder before the graining – and only
one roll of a rolling mill to do the same thing. The polishing mills are in the only house with a
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working water wheel, driving the drums by cogwheels (with 126 wooden cogs) long axles and
leather belts which are 20 cm wide.
Lefebvre graining machine with 10 copper funnels and sleeves leading the powder plates down
to the barrels with bronze sieves and a beech disc on each sieve pressing the grains down into
the boxes beneath. To the right is a close-up view of one of the sieves.
The powder grains themselves do the polishing as they tumble inside the drums – but now
without balls of any kind. Built together with this house is the drying hut and on the other side of
the canal the sorting house has running riddles and sieves driven with leather belts - but an
electric motor.
The smallest of our sorting machines in the background and a hand operated corning machine to
the right. The sieves on the wall were originally woven from silk but now are of nylon.
In addition to all these we have stores protected by earthwork banks. The museum is surrounded
by 150-year old lime trees (the elms died during the elm-disease). In our oldest building, a halftimbered house dating from 1848, we have the shop and ticket office – it costs only £2 for an
adult – in this building is a beautiful model of the museum together with old pictures, maps and
drawings on the walls.
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The Sorting House partly hidden behind earth rampart. The flag shows that a machine is
running.
As you will see in the beginning of this article, king Frederik V signed the paper that founded
our town in August 1756. So in August this year we will be celebrating our 250th Birthday. A
book is being written to be sent out on that day while the whole town will be ‘standing on
glowing poles’.
So perhaps some of our Friends from Waltham Abbey would like to take part in the
celebrations? We would be delighted to see any of you, if only to repay Les Tucker’s kindness in
giving me such an interesting guided visit in the middle of a very cold winter.
We will look forward to seeing you!
This is an edited version of an article that first appeared in Touchpaper the newsletter of the
Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey Friends Association. I am grateful to Norman Paul for
bringing this article to my attention.
See also Brenda Buchanan ‘Report on field trip to Denmark’ GMSG 6 August 1989, 3-8.
JOSEPH MEADOWS COWPER (1830-1908)
Arthur Percival
Gunpowder factory manager and Historian
Joseph Meadows Cowper is emerging from the 19th-century mists as one of the more unusual
gunpowder industry figures.
Born in Wellingborough on 18 July 1830, he started work as a clerk in one of the town’s iron
works. He was advised to train as a teacher, did so, and joined the staff of Faversham’s District
Schools (now converted into dwellings known as St Mary’s Court) soon after they opened in
1853. There he met Arabella Chaloner, a fellow-teacher, from Hay-on-Wye, and he married her
in the Parish Church on 16 February 1856.
His talents (evidently varied) were spotted by the owners of the three local gunpowder factories
and by April 1857 he had become Manager of the Marsh Works, where he lived ‘on-site’. By
1861 he was probably also manager of the Oare Works and was probably living at the White
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House (Grove House) at the north end of the factory. By 1868 he was Superintendent of all three
factories and living almost certainly at Ravenscourt, at the top of Davington Hill, Faversham, an
old timber-framed house in which Government officials had once lived when two of the factories
were Government-owned.
Soon afterwards, however, he was replaced, though for a while he continued to live at
Ravenscourt. Though he seems to have had no university education, he was a scholar of standing
and edited a number of early works on English history for Trubner & Co. Before the Royal
Historical Society in 1871 he read a paper, still useful today, on "Some Tudor Prices in Kent".
Later that year he was appointed to run a gunpowder plant, probably a government one, in Peru,
where several of his children were born. These were turbulent times; and there was a revolution
there in 1872 and then a civil war. Still Cowper completed his three-year contract, before
returning to the UK and settling in Canterbury to continue his academic work.
He needed income to sustain this however, and returned to South America, this time to work for
Grace Brothers, a big American business. On the outbreak of war between Peru and Chile in
1879 he returned to Canterbury. Here he worked as a volunteer in the City museum and the
library at the Beaney Institute, starting to transcribe and publish old parish registers and
churchwardens’ accounts.
After 1887 his financial position improved when he was given charge of the London office of the
Nitrate Railways of Peru, an appointment he held until he was given a pension in 1900.
Between 1887 and 1908, when he died at Harbledown, just outside Canterbury, he published
another 18 books, mostly on the history of the city. In recognition of his work he was elected a
Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.
The question is: does any member know more about his work in the Peruvian gunpowder
industry?
A GUN FELT FACTORY, WOTTON ST MARY, GLOUCESTERSHIRE
Ian Hollingsworth has been researching the water mills of the river Twyver in
Gloucester and has discovered that in 1874 John Foy Reeves applied for a license to produce gun
felt at Wood's Mill, Wotton St Mary. Wood’s Mill was situated on what is now the corner of
Coney Hill road and Eastern Avenue in Gloucester, it was demolished at the time of the
construction of the Gloucester ring road. He has been unable to find any information on the
manufacture and nature of gunfelt.
On Saturday 14th March 1874, The Gloucester Journal reported
A Gun-Felt factory in Gloucester - On Saturday before the county magistrates Mr. John Foy
Reeves resumed his application for a license to carry on the manufacture of Reeves’s Gun Felt,
at. Wood's Mill, in the hamlet of Wotton St Mary. Mr. Winterbotham, who made the application
on behalf of Mr. Reeves, said that the manufacture of the article had been carried on for the last
five years in the neighborhood of Stroud without any accident, but the premises there had now
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become unsuitable, as they no longer answered the requirements of the Act. The Act on the
subject was very precise, because it included other articles of a much more dangerous character
than gun-felt; the regulations therefore were very strict as to distances from houses, and
proximity to buildings of all descriptions, which made it very important to select premises quite
away from other buildings. The manufacture itself, however, was not a very serious one, nor as
regards quality was it likely to be of an extensive character. Major Majendie’s report explained
the nature of the proposed arrangements, and certified among other things, that there is no kind
of danger whatsoever while the material is in its wet state, and Mr. Reeves fully assented to the
proposition that a substantial barrier be erected before the buildings, where the wet and dry were
manufactured. Indeed they were prepared to accept the report absolutely. There were certain
stipulations in it, which would involve a good deal of outlay to his client, but everything seemed
so thoroughly done in the interest of the public, that he could not take exception to any of them.
He hoped therefore, the magistrates would grant Mr. Reeves a license “for the making and
keeping, respectively, of a certain explosive preparation or composition, commonly known as
‘Reeves’s Gun Cotton’ and for the filling of ammunition and blasting cartridges with the same.”
Mr. Reeves then handed in for the inspection of the bench specimens of his gun-felt; he said that
much of the process of its manufacture was carried on while it was in a wet state, during which
time there was no danger whatsoever; and even when dry, an explosion of a moderate quantity
would not produce serious consequences unless the material were compressed, like it would be
in a cartridge. He had, for the sake of experiment. Set fire to five pounds of gun-felt in a closed
room and not a window was shattered or any other damage done. It simply went off in a sheet of
flame. When compressed its explosive power was twice as great as that of gunpowder, but only
one-fifth part of the explosive power of gun-cotton. It was not, however, so liable to explode as
either gunpowder or gun-cotton, as it required a heat of about 400 degrees, which could only be
produced by very severe percussion. The gun-felt was made up into cartridges, and used for
blasting purposes. In its manufacture, he was prepared to accept and carry out all the conditions
laid down in Major Majendie’s report. Mr. Fryer (the magistrate’s clerk) then read the report,
which concluded with an appendix, containing a number of conditions upon which Major
Majendie thought the license should be granted. These conditions included the observance of
certain rules and regulations for the buildings. And at every stage of the manufacture; they
stipulated that no inhabitations should be within 180 yards of the factory except in the case of a
servant of the firm who might live at a distance of 100 yards; that in the filling room, not more
than 50 pounds of material should be kept at a time; and that in the magazine the story’s should
never exceed five million cartridges, and one ton of gun-felt in any other form. After hearing the
report and the conditions read the magistrates deliberated among themselves and finally decided
to grant the license, subject to the conditions laid down in Major Majendie’s report.
NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS AND ARTICLES - REVIEWS AND NOTES
GUNPOWDER PLOTS A CELEBRATION OF 400 YEARS OF BONFIRE NIGHT.
Brenda Buchanan, David Cannadine, Justine Champion, David Cressy, Pauline Croft, Antonia
Fraser and Mike Jay 2005. London: Allen Lane. Pp. IX + 189, illustrated. Hardback £14.99
This collection of essays was brought together to mark the 400th anniversary of the 1605
gunpowder plot against king James I. David Cannadine introduces the book with ‘The fifth of
November remembered and forgotten’. The early chapters deal with the political and social
causes and consequences of the gunpowder plot, its aftermath and enduring commemoration.
These begin with two essays on the gunpowder plot by Pauline Croft and Antonia Fraser, the
latter speculating on the consequences if the plot had succeeded. David Cressy discusses the
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social consequences and commemorations of this event, Justin Champion rails against this
‘despicable relic’ of religious intolerance, while Mike Jay revels in the annual anarchy of bonfire
night in Lewes. The book concludes with a chapter by Brenda Buchanan on the practicalities
and circumstances of firework manufacture in post-medieval England.
In the chapter on making fireworks Brenda Buchanan reviews the routes of technological
diffusion of the knowledge to create gunpowder and fireworks. The role of Chinese alchemists
in the discovery of gunpowder is well-known, but Brenda reminds us that we must also
acknowledge the work of Indian military technicians. Transfer of this technology to Europe was
probably both accomplished through intermediaries in the medieval Arab world and by direct
European contact with the Chinese.
The early history of firework manufacture was closely associated with gunpowder’s military
applications and its importance to the state. In England, until the end of the Crimean War in
1856 the Board of Ordnance took responsibility for the often massive triumphal displays to mark
important state occasions. In 1749, one of the most spectacular was in held in Green Park,
London, to mark the signing of the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. This, however, nearly ended in
disaster when one of the specially constructed pavilions caught fire. In contrast on the continent
there were professional pyrotechnic workers who mounted lavish courtly displays, and whose
origins may be traced back to at least the 16th century.
In this story the rocket figures both as a source of pleasure and as an instrument of war. The
Chinese used rockets in war, but they were probably more effective as terror weapons rather than
killing devices. In western Europe until the beginning of the 19th century the rocket remained in
the hands of the firework maker rather than the armourer. It was not until the William Congreve
(younger) developed an iron carcass for his rockets that it entered the armed forces’ inventory.
A more peaceable spin-off was the rescue rocket that has saved many mariners caught on
stricken vessels. Today the black powder rocket is once again a source of pleasure at firework
displays.
This book in its attractive and lavish gold binding is clearly aimed at the person who may only
ever read one book on the gunpowder plot. Its stimulating essays will provide them with a
concise account of the plot and the how its commemoration has been constantly reinvented
during the following centuries. To the more knowledgeable reader the breadth of topics covered
will bring new perspectives to this well-known event and its enduring legacy.
W D Cocroft
GUNPOWDER
Gunpowder 2005 London: Chatto Clive Ponting 244 pages £16.99
BALLINCOLLIG ROYAL GUNPOWDER MILLS
Jenny Webb
A new book is shortly to be published on Ballincollig Royal Gunpowder Mills, its title is
Ballincollig Royal Gunpowder Mills with A Hidden History in apposition. 21.99 euro or £15, 128
pages and 16 colour plates. A review will appear in a future Newsletter.
Please see www.nonsuch-publishing.com
16
GUNPOWDER: ALCHEMY, BOMBARDS, AND PYROTECHNICS – THE HISTORY
OF THE EXPLOSIVE THAT CHANGED THE WORLD. By Jack Kelly. New York: Basic
Books, 2004. Pp. X + 260. $25. also Atlantic Books: London, 2004. Pp X + 260 illustrated
hardback, £14.99.
The publication of this book marks an interesting stage in the evolution of gunpowder studies,
because an important subject which has animated a small group of historians for the last twentyfive years or so, is now being made accessible to the general reader. Jack Kelly assures us he has
no intention of writing a ‘scholarly work’, but this disclaimer is followed by a review of his
sources which shows how fully he has read his way into the subject. Indeed the comprehensive
nature of the bibliography and the perceptive notes on each item are a valuable aspect of the
book. They also serve to show how recently this subject has ‘taken-off’. Chancing upon
gunpowder manufacture in the course of documentary research in the mid-1970s, my own
primers were mostly books written around 1900 like Oscar Guttmann’s Manufacture of
Explosives, with Partington’s Greek Fire and Gunpowder (1960) only adding to the mystery, and
the great Needham’s Military Technology: the Gunpowder Epic (1986), vol.5 part 7 of his
Science and Civilisation in China series, still to come. Now, this general survey provides a
useful addition to the growing list of specialist publications.
The big aim of this relatively small book is that of describing and explaining the way in which
the tenth-century innovation of gunpowder making was transferred from China by various
avenues to western Europe and the rest of the known world, where it was first respected as an
agent of progress, but later feared as a barbaric source of destruction and national
aggrandisement. Gunpowder is presented as unique, since its effects cannot be replicated by any
other combination of natural ingredients; as a catalyst, because of its subsequent effect on the
history of the world; and as an anachronism, because in a world increasingly dominated by
science it survived until effectively the end of the nineteenth century as the product of a craftbased technology.
The story is well told. Kelly excels in word pictures and describes with great verve the intensity
of battles on land and at sea; the part played by such exigencies as the need to carry a ship’s
powder from the relative safety of the magazine below deck to the guns aloft; and the fatalistic
courage required to withstand the onslaught of furious sound and smoke. But for the academic
reader this very certainty of touch is a disadvantage. We reach in vain for the familiar apparatus
of the footnote to check out some statement, but the text stands alone. Similarly, the intriguing
chapter headings such as “The Most Pernicious Arts”, “No One Reasons”, and “Conquest’s
Crimson Wing” have no accreditation, and the sparse illustrations also lack underpinning. The
reader receives little explanation of the two engravings from Diderot’s Encyclopédie (1762-77),
and since the acknowledgements at the end of the book give ownership not source, the Hagley
Museum and Library is credited but not the French encyclopedist.
The reader also loses out in the trade-off between maintaining the sweep of the story and
exploring the details. Take for example the process at the heart of gunpowder making, that of
selecting the ingredients and then grinding or incorporating them so thoroughly that they are
present in the right proportion in every grain, which is not dealt with adequately in the text.
Incorporation may be achieved by stamp mills, favoured by the French until well into the
nineteenth century, or by upright edge runners or wheels, favoured by the British and coming
into use from the early eighteenth century. Under the French influence, the du Ponts set up stamp
mills at their Brandywine works in 1802, but then after some 20 years they began to make the
costly and inconvenient change to wheel mills, perhaps influenced by the probably superior
17
mixing and shearing effect of the edge runners. Another significant omission is the story of the
transportable rocket, which so impressed the British when it was used against their troops in
India in the 1790s that they took over the idea. The weapon was developed by Sir William
Congreve jr. and used in the Napoleonic Wars, and against Fort McHenry in the war of 1812-14.
It achieved immortality thereafter by the reference in the American national anthem to “the
rockets’ red glare, the bomb bursting in air”. These stories deserve to be told, for their interest
and for the detailed information they can convey about gunpowder manufacture and use.
I commend the book for its scope – its lapses only show how closely it has commanded my
attention.
This review was first published in Technology & Culture 2005 46 405-6.
Dr Brenda J Buchanan
GUNPOWDER: A CAPRICIOUS AND UNMERCIFUL THING
‘Gunpowder: a capricious and unmerciful thing’ Brenda Buchanan History of Technology 2005
25 141-160
This study discusses the regulation of the manufacture and storage of gunpowder by rules and
regulation, and how buildings and sites were designed to minimise risk.
THE ART AND MYSTERY OF MAKING GUNPOWDER
Brenda J Buchanan, 'The Art and Mystery of Making Gunpowder: the English
Experience in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries’, in Brett D Steele
and Tamera Dorland eds 2005 The heirs of Archimedes. Science and the art of war through the
age of enlightenment, Cambridge Mass & London England: MIT Press
RICHARD WATSON: GAITERS AND GUNPOWDER
‘Richard Watson: gaiters and gunpowder’ Colin Russell 57-83 in Archer, M D and Haley, C D
2005 The 1702 Chair of Chemistry at Cambridge: Transformation and Change Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press
Richard Watson, bishop, politician, and scientist, made a crucial contribution to the improvement
of British gunpowder manufacture at the end of the 18th century. In correspondence with
William Congreve (senior) he suggested that by regulating the production of charcoal by
preparing it in sealed retorts that a consistent form of gunpowder might be produced. This
innovation along with other improvements introduced by Congreve gave British forces a marked
advantage during the French revolutionary and Napoleonic wars.
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UPNOR CASTLE AND GUNPOWDER SUPPLY TO THE NAVY 1801-4
‘Upnor Castle and gunpowder supply to the Navy 1801-4’ Andrew Saunders The Mariner’s
Mirror 2005 91 (2), 160-174
This paper gives an account of a Board of Ordnance letter book, covering the years 1801-4, and
its correspondence with the Upnor Castle magazine, Kent. The letters contain a lot of fascinating
details about the supply and management of gunpowder at the beginning of the 19th century.
This was an interesting time for British gunpowder as the Commissioners of the Admiralty were
pressing the Royal Navy to introduce cylinder powder. The letters also give instructions from
Congreve about the use of different types of powder, for example, that Red LG (large grain) was
to be used for distant shooting, while White LG was for close fighting, salutes, and for ‘sealing
pieces of ordnance’. The article concludes with an appendix of ships unloaded or loaded from
Upnor Castle.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHILWORTH GUNPOWDER WORKS, SURREY,
FROM THE MID-19TH CENTURY
‘The development of the Chilworth Gunpowder Works, Surrey, from the mid-19th century’
Cocroft, W D and Tuck, C 2005 Industrial Archaeology Review XXVII (2) 217-34
This paper presents the results of the recent English Heritage survey of the Chilworth gunpowder
works. The main theme of the article is the development of the works during the 1880s to
manufacture brown prismatic powder and its later adaptation to produce chemical propellants.
ICOHTEC CONFERENCE 2006
Brenda Buchanan
The International Committee for the History of Technology (ICOHTEC) will be holding its
annual conference in Leicester in August 2006. Brenda Buchanan will be co-ordinating a
session on the history of gunpowder and explosives technology.
For further details see www.icohtec.org
OBITUARIES
Brenda Buchanan
We are sad to have to report that two of our members have recently died suddenly: MARY
YOWARD and BRYAN WILLIAMS. We offer our deepest sympathy to their partners, Tony
Yoward and Beryl Williams.
MARY and TONY YOWARD were a good team from their earliest professional days. Indeed,
they had met in Bristol whilst training as pharmacists, and this early professional connection was
cemented by a long-standing marriage and family life. Having registered with the Royal
Pharmaceutical Society in 1948, Mary retained her professional interests for some 40 years,
serving also as a magistrate and as a member of the Inland Revenue Complaints Commission.
From the mid-1980s retirement allowed for the growth of the many interests Mary shared with
Tony, especially as the search for milling ancestors developed into an interest in mills in general
including, most happily from our point of view, gunpowder mills. My own first recollection of
19
the couple is of sharing a cheerful evening meal with them in a small hotel in Truro in 1987,
when we all enjoyed one of the several exciting tours of discovery arranged for the Group by
Alan and Glenys Crocker. This experience was repeated in Paris on the 1996 tour organized by
our colleagues René Amiable and Patrice Bret, but we also learnt then that Mary and Tony
appreciated not only the conviviality that went with shared meals, but also the food itself, for
they were quite put out to find that Angus and I had been served breakfast on our flight from
Bristol whereas they, on a flight from Southampton, had not. It was then no surprise to find Mary
and Tony at meetings of the Newcomen Society, where I recall Mary speaking up at one AGM
against the Newcomen practice of not permitting shared membership of the Society. The
Association for Industrial Archaeology in particular also owed an enormous debt to the couple
because for many years they played a vital part in handling the membership arrangements for
conferences. In this they were helped greatly by their early development of an expertise in
computing. Perhaps most significantly from the point of view of academic achievement, they
put these talents to the use of the Mills Archive, helping to make retrievable from that repository,
information of all kinds on mills and millers. Life was not always plain sailing, for in recent
years Mary underwent surgery for joint replacements, but it was a virulent form of meningitis
that caused her death within days. Mary was a woman of great kindness with a wonderful
capacity for friendship, and we shall all miss her.
BRYAN and BERYL WILLIAMS are colleagues from the later rather than the earlier days of
the Gunpowder Group, drawn in by an interest in magazines, especially that at Weedon near
their retirement home. They met more than 50 years ago, both having studied chemistry, a
subject that Bryan served for over 25 years as Head of Chemistry at Christ College, Brecon.
Bryan’s research interests and practical talents lay in church organs and church bells, but he also
enjoyed our more unorthodox meetings. We remember in particular the talk that Beryl gave on
the subject of Weedon at our Purfleet weekend in 2002, when she was supported as always by
Bryan. We all know how much such undemanding support matters, and how it frequently
enables us to achieve more than would otherwise have been the case. Bryan died suddenly in his
mid-70s, and we would like Beryl to know how much we shall miss his quiet helpful presence at
our meetings.
20
CONTENTS
Names in italics indicate sources of information rather than authors
Oare gunpowder works, Kent
Wayne Cocroft
2
Leigh gunpowder works, Kent
Chris Rowley
4
Krudtværksmuseum in Frederiksværk, Denmark
Kristian Jensen
9
Joseph Meadows Cowper (1830-1908)
Arthur Percival
12
A gun felt factory, Wotton St Mary, Gloucs
Ian Hollingsworth
13
Notices of new books and articles - reviews and notes
14
Review Gunpowder Plots Buchanan et al
Wayne Cocroft
14
Gunpowder
Clive Ponting
15
Ballincollig Royal Gunpowder Mills
Jenny Webb
15
Review Gunpowder Jack Kelly
Brenda Buchanan
16
‘Gunpowder: a capricious and unmerciful thing’
Brenda Buchanan
17
‘Richard Watson: gaiters and gunpowder’
Colin Russell
17
‘The art and mystery of making gunpowder’
Brenda Buchanan
17
‘Upnor Castle and gunpowder supply…’
Andrew Saunders
18
‘Chilworth Gunpowder Works, Surrey’
Wayne Cocroft
18
ICOHTEC conference 2006
Brenda Buchanan
18
Obituaries
Brenda Buchanan
18